TCTC Holdings LLC Lowers Position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT)

TCTC Holdings LLC decreased its position in Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 102,818 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC’s holdings in Abbott Laboratories were worth $11,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 46,462 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $5,255,000 after acquiring an additional 766 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 125,869 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $14,237,000 after acquiring an additional 4,544 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 273,928 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $30,984,000 after acquiring an additional 37,826 shares in the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,256 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $1,160,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signature Wealth Management Group boosted its holdings in shares of Abbott Laboratories by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Signature Wealth Management Group now owns 2,213 shares of the healthcare product maker’s stock valued at $250,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.18% of the company’s stock.

Abbott Laboratories Stock Performance

NYSE:ABT opened at $127.02 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $127.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.60 and a quick ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $220.29 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Abbott Laboratories has a 1-year low of $99.71 and a 1-year high of $141.23.

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 22nd. The healthcare product maker reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34. The business had revenue of $10.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.03 billion. Abbott Laboratories had a net margin of 31.95% and a return on equity of 20.74%. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.19 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Abbott Laboratories will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Abbott Laboratories Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. Abbott Laboratories’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Abbott Laboratories news, EVP Lisa D. Earnhardt sold 91,167 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $133.82, for a total transaction of $12,199,967.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 71,928 shares in the company, valued at $9,625,404.96. The trade was a 55.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Daniel Gesua Sive Salvadori sold 23,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.50, for a total transaction of $3,054,573.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,152,064.50. This represents a 15.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 116,449 shares of company stock valued at $15,463,316. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $146.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $130.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Abbott Laboratories from $133.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Abbott Laboratories to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Abbott Laboratories presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Abbott Laboratories Profile

Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide. It operates in four segments: Established Pharmaceutical Products, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Medical Devices. The company provides generic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, irritable bowel syndrome or biliary spasm, intrahepatic cholestasis or depressive symptoms, gynecological disorder, hormone replacement therapy, dyslipidemia, hypertension, hypothyroidism, Ménière’s disease and vestibular vertigo, pain, fever, inflammation, and migraine, as well as provides anti-infective clarithromycin, influenza vaccine, and products to regulate physiological rhythm of the colon.